Managing user state of cloud desktops

ABSTRACT

A mechanism is described for provisioning remote desktops in a cloud based infrastructure while maintaining user personalization. In cloud based systems, a user may not always reconnect to the same VM endpoint. In one embodiment, the virtual hard disk assigned to a user is mounted to the endpoint assigned to the user. The virtual hard disk includes the user&#39;s personal data and personalization information (e.g., settings, profiles, files, etc.). When the user disconnects from the remote desktop, the virtual hard disk is demounted from the endpoint. The virtual hard disk thus provides information regarding the user&#39;s state when the user is disconnected.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/233,821, filed Sep. 15, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,812,687, issuedAug. 19, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Remote access systems enable users to remotely access resources hostedon remote systems. Servers on the remote computing systems can executeprograms and transmit signals indicative of a user interface to clientsthat can connect by sending signals over a network conforming to acommunication protocol such as the TCP/IP protocol. Each connectingclient may be provided a session, i.e., an execution environment thatincludes a set of resources. Each client can transmit signals indicativeof user input to the server and the server can apply the user input tothe appropriate session. A client may open and close remote accessconnections to a server, and during each connection, the client maychange settings and preferences in the session.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are methods and systems for provisioning remote desktops in acloud based infrastructure while maintaining user personalization. Incloud based systems, a user may not always reconnect to the same virtualdesktop. In one embodiment, the virtual hard disk assigned to a user ismounted to the endpoint assigned to the user. The virtual hard diskincludes the user's personal data and personalization information (e.g.,settings, profiles, files, etc.). When the user disconnects from theremote desktop, the virtual hard disk is demounted from the endpoint.The virtual hard disk thus provides information regarding the user'sstate when the user is disconnected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The systems, methods, and computer readable media for managing avirtualized computing infrastructure in accordance with thisspecification are further described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example computing environment wherein aspects of thepresent disclosure can be implemented.

FIG. 2 depicts an example computing environment wherein aspects of thepresent disclosure can be implemented.

FIG. 3 depicts an example computing environment including data centers.

FIG. 4 depicts an operational environment of a data center.

FIG. 5 depicts an operational environment for practicing aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example architecture for practicing some of themethods disclosed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example block diagram depicting some of themethods disclosed herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example block diagram depicting the computecomponent of a cloud data service.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example block diagram depicting the storagecomponent of a cloud data service.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example block diagram depicting the fabriccontroller component of a cloud data service.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example block diagram depicting the CDN componentof a cloud data service.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example block diagram depicting the connectcomponent of a cloud data service.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example embodiment of the methods disclosedherein.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example embodiment of the methods disclosedherein.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of an operational procedure forpracticing aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example system for practicing aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example embodiment of a user data mountingscenario.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Certain specific details are set forth in the following description andfigures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments ofthe disclosure. Certain well-known details often associated withcomputing and software technology are not set forth in the followingdisclosure to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the various embodiments ofthe disclosure. Further, those of ordinary skill in the relevant artwill understand that they can practice other embodiments of thedisclosure without one or more of the details described below. Finally,while various methods are described with reference to steps andsequences in the following disclosure, the description as such is forproviding a clear implementation of embodiments of the disclosure, andthe steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required topractice this disclosure.

It should be understood that the various techniques described herein maybe implemented in connection with hardware or software or, whereappropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatusof the disclosure, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take theform of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media,such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any othermachine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loadedinto and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomesan apparatus for practicing the disclosure. In the case of program codeexecution on programmable computers, the computing device generallyincludes a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor(including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), atleast one input device, and at least one output device. One or moreprograms that may implement or utilize the processes described inconnection with the disclosure, e.g., through the use of an applicationprogramming interface (API), reusable controls, or the like. Suchprograms are preferably implemented in a high level procedural or objectoriented programming language to communicate with a computer system.However, the program(s) can be implemented in assembly or machinelanguage, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled orinterpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

A remote desktop system is a computer system that maintains applicationsthat can be remotely executed by client computer systems. Input isentered at a client computer system and transferred over a network(e.g., using protocols based on the International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU) T.120 family of protocols such as Remote Desktop Protocol(RDP)) to an application on a terminal server. The application processesthe input as if the input were entered at the terminal server. Theapplication generates output in response to the received input and theoutput is transferred over the network to the client

Embodiments may execute on one or more computers. FIG. 1 and thefollowing discussion are intended to provide a brief general descriptionof a suitable computing environment in which the disclosure may beimplemented. One skilled in the art can appreciate that computer systems200, 300 can have some or all of the components described with respectto computer 100 of FIG. 1.

The term circuitry used throughout the disclosure can include hardwarecomponents such as hardware interrupt controllers, hard drives, networkadaptors, graphics processors, hardware based video/audio codecs, andthe firmware/software used to operate such hardware. The term circuitrycan also include microprocessors configured to perform function(s) byfirmware or by switches set in a certain way or one or more logicalprocessors, e.g., one or more cores of a multi-core general processingunit. The logical processor(s) in this example can be configured bysoftware instructions embodying logic operable to perform function(s)that are loaded from memory, e.g., RAM, ROM, firmware, and/or virtualmemory. In example embodiments where circuitry includes a combination ofhardware and software an implementer may write source code embodyinglogic that is subsequently compiled into machine readable code that canbe executed by a logical processor. Since one skilled in the art canappreciate that the state of the art has evolved to a point where thereis little difference between hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware/software, the selection of hardware versus software toeffectuate functions is merely a design choice. Thus, since one of skillin the art can appreciate that a software process can be transformedinto an equivalent hardware structure, and a hardware structure canitself be transformed into an equivalent software process, the selectionof a hardware implementation versus a software implementation is trivialand left to an implementer.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a computing system which is configured withaspects of the disclosure. The computing system can include a computer20 or the like, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, anda system bus 23 that couples various system components including thesystem memory to the processing unit 21. The system bus 23 may be any ofseveral types of bus structures including a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofbus architectures. The system memory includes read only memory (ROM) 24and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system 26(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within the computer 20, such as during start up, isstored in ROM 24. The computer 20 may further include a hard disk drive27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magneticdisk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to aremovable optical disk 31 such as a CD ROM or other optical media. Insome example embodiments, computer executable instructions embodyingaspects of the disclosure may be stored in ROM 24, hard disk (notshown), RAM 25, removable magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, and/or acache of processing unit 21. The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive28, and optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by ahard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and anoptical drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and theirassociated computer readable media provide nonvolatile storage ofcomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the computer 20. Although the environment describedherein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removableoptical disk 31, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat other types of computer readable media which can store data that isaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories(RAMs), read only memories (ROMs) and the like may also be used in theoperating environment.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magneticdisk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an operatingsystem 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into thecomputer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 and pointingdevice 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone,joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner or the like. These and otherinput devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through aserial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may beconnected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port oruniversal serial bus (USB). A display 47 or other type of display devicecan also be connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as avideo adapter 48. In addition to the display 47, computers typicallyinclude other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakersand printers. The system of FIG. 1 also includes a host adapter 55,Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus 56, and an external storagedevice 62 connected to the SCSI bus 56.

The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer49. The remote computer 49 may be another computer, a server, a router,a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, a virtualmachine, and typically can include many or all of the elements describedabove relative to the computer 20, although only a memory storage device50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 1 can include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network(WAN) 52. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,enterprise wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 20 can beconnected to the LAN 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. Whenused in a WAN networking environment, the computer 20 can typicallyinclude a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications overthe wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which maybe internal or external, can be connected to the system bus 23 via theserial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modulesdepicted relative to the computer 20, or portions thereof, may be storedin the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that thenetwork connections shown are examples and other means of establishing acommunications link between the computers may be used. Moreover, whileit is envisioned that numerous embodiments of the disclosure areparticularly well-suited for computer systems, nothing in this documentis intended to limit the disclosure to such embodiments.

Referring now to FIG. 2, depicted is a high level block diagram of acomputer system configured to effectuate virtual machines. As shown inthe figures, computer system 100 can include elements described in FIGS.1 and 2 and components operable to effectuate virtual machines. One suchcomponent is a hypervisor 202 that may also be referred to in the art asa virtual machine monitor. The hypervisor 202 in the depicted embodimentcan be configured to control and arbitrate access to the hardware ofcomputer system 100. Broadly stated, the hypervisor 202 can generateexecution environments called partitions such as child partition 1through child partition N (where N is an integer greater than or equalto 1). In embodiments a child partition can be considered the basic unitof isolation supported by the hypervisor 202, that is, each childpartition can be mapped to a set of hardware resources, e.g., memory,devices, logical processor cycles, etc., that is under control of thehypervisor 202 and/or the parent partition and hypervisor 202 canisolate one partition from accessing another partition's resources. Inembodiments the hypervisor 202 can be a stand-alone software product, apart of an operating system, embedded within firmware of themotherboard, specialized integrated circuits, or a combination thereof.

In the above example, computer system 100 includes a parent partition204 that can also be thought of as domain 0 in the open sourcecommunity. Parent partition 204 can be configured to provide resourcesto guest operating systems executing in child partitions 1-N by usingvirtualization service. Each child partition can include one or morevirtual processors such as virtual processors 230 through 232 that guestoperating systems 220 through 222 can manage and schedule threads toexecute thereon. Generally, the virtual processors 230 through 232 areexecutable instructions and associated state information that provide arepresentation of a physical processor with a specific architecture. Forexample, one virtual machine may have a virtual processor havingcharacteristics of an Intel x86 processor, whereas another virtualprocessor may have the characteristics of a PowerPC processor. Thevirtual processors in this example can be mapped to logical processorsof the computer system such that the instructions that effectuate thevirtual processors will be backed by logical processors. Thus, in theseexample embodiments, multiple virtual processors can be simultaneouslyexecuting while, for example, another logical processor is executinghypervisor instructions. Generally speaking, and as illustrated by thefigures, the combination of virtual processors and memory in a partitioncan be considered a virtual machine such as virtual machine 240 or 242.

Generally, guest operating systems 220 through 222 can include anyoperating system such as, for example, operating systems fromMicrosoft®, Apple®, the open source community, etc. The guest operatingsystems can include user/kernel modes of operation and can have kernelsthat can include schedulers, memory managers, etc. A kernel mode caninclude an execution mode in a logical processor that grants access toat least privileged processor instructions. Each guest operating system220 through 222 can have associated file systems that can haveapplications stored thereon such as terminal servers, e-commerceservers, email servers, etc., and the guest operating systemsthemselves. The guest operating systems 220-222 can schedule threads toexecute on the virtual processors 230-232 and instances of suchapplications can be effectuated.

FIG. 3 and the following description are intended to provide a brief,general description of an example computing environment in which theembodiments described herein may be implemented. In particular, FIG. 3depicts an illustrative operating environment 300 that includes datacenters 308 for providing computing resources. Data centers 308 canprovide computing resources for executing applications and providingdata services on a continuous or an as-needed basis. The computingresources provided by the data centers 308 may include various types ofresources, such as data processing resources, data storage resources,data communication resources, and the like. Each type of computingresource may be general-purpose or may be available in a number ofspecific configurations. For example, data processing resources may beavailable as virtual machine instances. The virtual machine instancesmay be configured to execute applications, including Web servers,application servers, media servers, database servers, and the like. Datastorage resources may include file storage devices, block storagedevices, and the like. The data center includes more than virtualmachine computing resources, including a number of physical computingdevices that can be configured to run one or more virtual machines thatcan be migrated across the physical resources to load balance.

The computing resources provided by the data centers 308 may be enabledby one or more individual data centers. The data centers 308 arefacilities utilized to house and operate computer systems and associatedcomponents. The data centers 308 typically include redundant and backuppower, communications, cooling, and security systems. The data centers302 might also be located in geographically disparate locations. Oneillustrative configuration for a data center 308 that implements theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein for scalably deploying avirtualized computing infrastructure will be described below with regardto FIG. 3.

The customers and other consumers of the data centers 308 may access thecomputing resources provided by the data centers 302 over a network 306.It should be appreciated that a local-area network (“LAN”), theInternet, or any other networking topology known in the art thatconnects the data centers 308 to remote consumers may be utilized. Itshould also be appreciated that combinations of such networks might alsobe utilized.

The user computer 304 may be a computer utilized by a customer or otherconsumer of the data centers 308. For instance, the user computer 304may be a server computer, a desktop or laptop personal computer, a thinclient, a tablet computer, a wireless telephone, a personal digitalassistant (“PDA”), an e-reader, a game console, a set-top box, or anyother computing device capable of accessing the data centers 308.

The user computer 304 may be utilized to configure aspects of thecomputing resources provided by the data centers 308. In this regard,the data centers 308 may provide a Web interface through which aspectsof its operation may be configured through the use of a Web browserapplication program executing on the customer computing system 304.Alternatively, a stand-alone application program executing on thecustomer computing system 304 might access an application programminginterface (“API”) exposed by the data centers 308 for performing theconfiguration operations. Other mechanisms for configuring the operationof the data centers 308, including deploying updates to an application,might also be utilized.

FIG. 4 depicts a computing system diagram that illustrates oneconfiguration for a data center 308, including the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein for scalably deploying a virtualizedcomputing infrastructure. FIG. 2 includes server computers 402 forproviding computing resources for executing an application. The servercomputers 402 may be standard server computers configured appropriatelyfor providing the computing resources described above. For instance, inone implementation the server computers 402 are configured to providethe processes 406.

In one embodiment, the processes 406 may be virtual machine instances. Avirtual machine instance may be an instance of a software implementationof a machine (i.e., a computer) that executes programs much like aphysical machine executes programs. In the example of virtual machineinstances, each of the servers 402 may be configured to execute aninstance manager capable of executing the instances. The instancemanager might be a hypervisor or another type of program configured toenable the execution of multiple processes 406 on a single server 402,for example.

It should be appreciated that although some of the embodiments disclosedherein are discussed in the context of virtual machine instances, othertypes of instances can be utilized with the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein. For example, the technologies disclosed herein mightbe utilized with instances of storage resources, processing resources,data communications resources, and with other types of resources. Theembodiments disclosed herein might also be utilized with computingsystems that do not utilize virtual machine instances, i.e. that use acombination of physical machines and virtual machines.

In the example data center shown in FIG. 4, a LAN 401 is utilized tointerconnect the server computers 402. The LAN 401 may also connected tothe WAN 306 illustrated in FIG. 3. It should be appreciated that thenetwork topology illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 has been greatlysimplified and that many more networks and networking devices may beutilized to interconnect the various computing systems disclosed herein.Appropriate load balancing devices or software modules might also beutilized for balancing a load between data centers, between each of theserver computers 402 in each data center, and between instances 406purchased by each customer of the data centers. These network topologiesand devices should be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Cloud computing generally refers to a computing environment for enablingon-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (e.g.,applications, servers, and storage) such as those described above. Sucha computing environment may be rapidly provisioned and released withminimal management effort or service provider interaction. Cloudcomputing services typically do not require end-user knowledge of thephysical location and configuration of the system that delivers theservices. The services may be consumption-based and delivered via theInternet. Many cloud computing services involve virtualized resourcessuch as those described above and may take the form of web-based toolsor applications that users can access and use through a web browser asif they were programs installed locally on their own computers.

Cloud computing services are typically built on some type of platform.For some applications, such as those running inside an organization'sdata center, this platform may include an operating system and a datastorage service configured to store data. Applications running in thecloud may utilize a similar foundation.

FIG. 5 provides further detail to the example environment shown in FIG.3. An administrator at user computer 304 can set up desktopconfiguration 501 including identifying an operating system,applications, policies and storage settings. Such preferences can bechanged by the administrator and the provider of the services can chargea fee to the administrator for providing the requested configuration.

In one embodiment and as further described in FIG. 6, a cloud servicecan implement an architecture comprising a stack of four layers asfollows:

-   -   a cloud computing platform 601 configured to provide the        resources to support the cloud services    -   a desktop provisioning and management layer 602 for creating and        managing the cloud computing assets that enable application        providers to provide applications, enterprise desktop providers        and desktop resellers to create and manage desktops, users to        connect to their desktops, etc. This layer can translate the        logical view of applications and desktops to the physical assets        of the cloud computing platform.    -   an application provider/enterprise desktop provider/desktop        reseller/user experiences layer 603 that provides distinct        end-to-end experiences for each of the four types of entities        described above.    -   a vertical layer 604 that provides a set of customized        experiences for particular groups of users and provided by        desktop resellers.

In one embodiment of a cloud computing platform, a stamp may beimplemented and used to define a unit of isolation and may be configuredto define a traditional remote desktop deployment. A remote desktopcontroller component can be provided that maintains customer artifactsand credentials, manages loads across stamps, and provisions and resizesstamps. A remote desktop controller can also create and manageapplications and desktops. Whereas a particular end point provides thevirtual equivalent of a user's desktop, the stamp (or multiple stamps)provides the virtual equivalent of an companies computinginfrastructure.

The layers described above may involve a number of components. Suchcomponents may include the following which are further described below.

-   -   a compute component (e.g., FIG. 8) that runs applications in the        cloud.    -   a storage component (e.g., FIG. 9) that stores binary and        structured data in the cloud    -   a fabric controller component (e.g., FIG. 10) that deploys,        manages, and monitors applications. The fabric controller may        also handle updates to system software throughout the platform    -   a content delivery network component (e.g., FIG. 11) that        increases the speed for global access to data in the cloud        storage by maintaining cached copies of that data around the        world    -   a connect component (e.g., FIG. 12) that allows creating        IP-level connections between on-premises computers and cloud        applications.

Referring to FIG. 8 depicting a compute component 810, an applicationmay be implemented as one or more roles 800 801 802 as described above.The cloud service may run multiple instances of each role, using loadbalancing to spread requests across the roles.

A portal may be provided to allow a developer to submit an applicationto the cloud service. The portal may be configured to receiveconfiguration information that informs the cloud platform of how manyinstances of each role to run. The fabric controller component maycreate a virtual machine (VM) for each instance and run the code for theappropriate role in that VM. Requests from the application's users canbe made using protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, and TCP. The requests canbe load balanced across all instances of a role.

Referring to FIG. 9 depicting a storage component 910, the cloudplatform may provide data storage using a number of data structures andformats. For example, data storage can be provided as an unstructuredblob of binary data 900. Metadata can be used to provide information asto content. In order to allow applications to work with data in a morestructured fashion, cloud storage services may provide storage as groupsof entities that are associated with properties. Applications may alsobe provided a means to query data such, as, for example, an API thatincludes search parameters. Additionally, cloud storage can provide away for web role instances to communicate asynchronously with workerrole instances. For example, a user might submit a request to performsome compute-intensive task via a web interface implemented by a webrole. The web role instance that receives this request can write amessage into a queue 902 describing the work to be done. A worker roleinstance that is waiting on this queue can then read the message andcarry out the specified task. Results can be returned via another queue.

The cloud storage service may replicate data in order to provide faulttolerance. Furthermore, data can be backed up copy in another datacenter in a different physical location for redundancy and enhancedavailability.

Referring to FIG. 10, a fabric controller component 1000 may be adistributed application replicated across a group of machines. Thefabric controller component can be configured to own all of theresources in its environment such as computers, switches, and loadbalancers. The fabric controller component 1000 can also monitor runningapplications, determine where new applications should run, and selectphysical servers to optimize hardware utilization. The fabric controllercomponent can also be configured to start, monitor, and terminatevirtual machines.

In an embodiment and referring to FIG. 11, the cloud service can storecopies of data at sites closer to the clients 1100 that use the data.For example, the first time a particular piece of data is accessed by auser, the content delivery network component can store a copy of thatdata (i.e., cache) at a location that is geographically close to thatuser. The next time the data is accessed, the contents can be deliveredfrom the cache rather than from the more remote original.

In an embodiment and referring to FIG. 11, in order to support theapplications and data used within an organization, on-premisesenvironments may be connected with the cloud service. In an embodiment,this type of combination can be effectuated by providing IP-levelconnectivity between a cloud application and machines running outside ofthe cloud. An endpoint agent 1201 can be installed on each on-premisescomputer 1202 that connects to a cloud application. The cloudapplication may also be configured to work with the cloud connectcomponent 1200. The agent can use protocols such as IPsec to interactwith a particular role in that application. By using such an agent, thepotential complexity of configuring protocols such as IPsec 1203 can betransparent to the user, while providing a much simpler connection thanmethods such as virtual private networks (VPNs). Once the connection isestablished, roles in a cloud application can appear to be on the sameIP network as the on-premises machine.

By establishing such connections, a cloud application can access anon-premises database directly. A cloud application can also bedomain-joined to the on-premises environment, allowing a single sign-onto the cloud application by on-premises users, and the use of existingactive directory accounts and groups for access control.

In various embodiments, a remote desktop computing experience can beprovided in which a desktop provider can provide an elastic pool ofdesktops from which an administrator can easily provision and managenumerous user desktops, much in the same manner as provisioning andmanaging a single user desktop. The remote desktop user can thus beprovided with a desktop experience that is always available, free ofadministrative procedures, and billed based on consumption. Forapplication providers, such a service can enable the applicationproviders, with minimal effort, to provide traditional desktopapplications to users in the form of web applications.

As businesses move to adopt remote or virtual desktops as a means tocentralize the administration of secure and compliant employee desktops,it would be advantageous for IT administrators to be able to provide ahomogenous desktop environment in order to control and minimize costs.Thus a platform that can provide a plurality of remote or virtualdesktops can provide scalable and homogenous computing environments atlow cost. By architecting a hosted desktop solution on a cloud platformin a manner similar to that of a homogenous computing model, ITadministrators can be provided an environment that can significantlylower cost as compared to traditional “Desktop as a Service”alternatives.

A cloud computing platform can be configured to operate with and providebenefits to multiple users and providers. For example, for anapplication provider that provides applications to an enterprise desktopprovider or a desktop reseller, a cloud computing platform may beconfigured to provision and sell traditional desktop applications in ascalable cloud model. The application provider may be enabled to createan application provider account with payout account information, uploadapplication packages, test uploaded applications on a selected operationsystem, publish the application on an application marketplace on thecloud, monitor application usage and set user charges per user.

For an enterprise desktop provider who creates and/or manages desktops,a cloud platform may be configured to provision desktops which mayinclude bundles of applications to groups of users with similarrequirements. For example, a group of users may all be employees of thesame enterprise customer. The desktop provider may be enabled to be ableto create an enterprise desktop provider account and provide creditinformation, e.g., by way of a credit card or other credit facility. Thedesktop provider may further be enabled to a create desktops byselecting, for example, an OS version and compatible applications fromthe cloud marketplace, upload additional applications as needed, andchoose a delivery mode, i.e., a full desktop experience or remoteapplication delivery. The desktop provider may also be enabled toprovide credentials to enable access from desktops to the customers'on-premise active directory, add users to enable access to desktops, setpolicies to control user access to applications on the desktop, set up aURL for a web page for desktop users, and access connection activity anddisable/enable access for users.

A desktop reseller may be an entity who creates and/or manages desktopsfor sale as a service to users. A desktop reseller may be enabled toperform capabilities similar to an enterprise desktop provider, such ascreating a desktop reseller account, creating signup and connectionscenarios for remote users, creating one or more desktops by selectingan OS version and compatible applications from the cloud marketplace,and uploading additional applications and choosing a delivery mode. Adesktop reseller may also be enabled to set policies to manage useraccess to applications on the desktop, and provide OS and applicationupdates either automatically or manually. A desktop reseller may also beenabled to view connection activity and disable/enable access, monitordesktop usage, and receive payments from users.

A user may be an identifiable entity who accesses a desktop provisionedby an enterprise desktop provider or a desktop reseller. The user may,via the cloud platform, access desktops from any location, browse to aURL for desktop service, and sign in and access the provisionedservices. In some embodiments, the user may be provided a list ofdesktop environments that the user can log into.

Referring to FIG. 13, illustrated is an example block diagram depictinga process for providing remote desktop services in a cloud computingframework. A user may access via a browser a web page that provides anentry point to the remote desktop services accessible to the user andconfigured in accordance with the user's IT departments requirements.The user may log onto the system using credentials provided to the user.The credentials may be a persistent ID such as a Windows Live ID orOpenID. A user will then be redirected to an authentication server whichmay require entry of a username and password over a secured connection.Once authenticated, the user may be issued a password that is persistedfor that user, the password being provided to other services so thatadditional authorization is not required. In an embodiment, the passwordmay be persisted for that user even if the desktop session ends, unlessthe user explicitly logs off from the session.

A mechanism may be provided for automatically logging into a cloud basedsystem in which a single user authentication and authorization processpermits a user to access the resources in the cloud based system wherethe user has access permission, without the need to enter multiplepasswords. Providing single sign-on allows users to log in once andaccess multiple applications without the need to enter more passwords.Single sign on is desirable for enterprises by increasing security andefficiency by reducing the number of passwords that must be maintained.For cloud service providers, single sign on provide a better userexperience by allowing users greater access without additionalauthentication effort.

A cloud based service may not accept token log-on credentials generatedby a single sign-on service. For example, a web-ID provider or singlesign on service may prompt a user for sign on credentials, and theservice may generate a ticket or tokens that can be used for connectingto other services. Examples of such systems may include Windows, Linux,and iOS. It is desirable to give users in an on-premises enterprisedomain, for example, single sign-on access to applications running inthe cloud service.

In an embodiment, when a user logs into a cloud based desktop andprovides authentication credentials, a one-time password may beautomatically generated and persisted. The generated one-time passwordmay be used to log in automatically to additional processes in the cloudbased system. In one embodiment, the generated one-time password can bepersisted until the user explicitly logs off Thus, even when the desktopsession is unexpectedly terminated, the password can be persisted.

In another embodiment, a user may have an account with a service thatprovides integrated on line services such as Windows Live or Yahoo. Sucha service may provide a set of services and software products such asemail and multimedia services that are accessible using a single user IDand password. In an embodiment a user of such an integrated service mayalso be provided an option to access cloud based computing services asdescribed above. Thus when a user has opted for cloud based computingservices as part of such an integrated service, once the user has loggedon to the service the user may be presented an option to accessed thecloud based computing service and request a remote desktop session.Because the cloud based service, e.g., the remote desktop, may notaccept the credentials from the integrated service, the cloud basedservice may generate an account with a one time password that allows theuser to access the desktop session. The details of the one time passwordneed not be provided to the user since the password only exists for theduration of the session or until the user logs off. In an embodiment theone time password may be persisted so that the user may return to thedesktop if the desktop is inadvertently disconnected without having torestart the logon process.

In an embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14, client 1404 may enter a URL forhis company's cloud based service home page 1400. Alternatively, theuser may enter a URL for an integrated online service. The user may bedirected to an online authentication service 1401 which prompts the userfor authentication credentials. The online authentication service 1401may be a service used by the administrator for the user and the user'scredential information may be provided by the administrator to the cloudservice, authorizing the service to create a user profile and allowingthe user to launch and access desktops. Alternatively, the onlineauthentication service 1401 may be provided by the integrated onlineservice. Once the user is authenticated, the user is directed to ahomepage 1402, the user can access the cloud service 1410 with thecredentials provided by the online authentication service. The cloudservice 1410 generates a one time password 1405 and/or a temporary useraccount, and the user's one time password is sent 140 to an endpoint1407. As described above, the endpoint 1407 can be a user desktopsession.

The one-time password may be generated based on the credentials receivedby the online authentication service. In an embodiment, the password canbe stored in a local credentials store in the virtual machine hostingthe user session. Thus the password is not persisted with the user inthe user's profile, thus allowing for enhanced security and avoiding theneed for the cloud service to maintain permanent passwords for eachuser.

The user can be presented with a number of desktops, e.g., anengineering desktop, a finance desktop, etc. that can be selected andlogged into. For example, each desktop can be tailored to a specificfunctionality. The user may be presented with the specific desktopsbased on predefined authorization. Once the users selects a desktop, anew desktop instance may be instantiated for that user. If a previousdesktop instance is selected the session associated with the previousdesktop instance may be resumed. The session for this user and sessionfor other users can be launched as endpoints within a virtual machinethat hosts a number of such sessions. A saved profile may be associatedwith each endpoint that is created or resumed that includes the user'spreference and state information from a previous session and otherinformation needed to maintain the user's state so the user's sessioncan be persisted, paused, and resumed. Generally a desktop may consistof an operating system, applications, and settings. A desktop instancegenerally refers to a desktop plus a specific user profile. In somecases a desktop instance and a desktop session may be usedinterchangeably.

In an embodiment, multiple sessions can be launched for additionalusers. Referring to the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14,multiple sessions corresponding to multiple endpoints may beinstantiated as additional users log into the system. Furthermore, theusers may comprise multiple user types as defined by the administratorfor the group of users. For example, as shown in the figure, multiplesusers of both Type 1 and Type 2 may log into the system and beginsessions. For example, Type 1 may be a finance type desktop and Type 2may be an engineering type desktop. Of course, other examples are alsopossible. A virtual machine may be configured to host a number ofsessions of one or more types. In one embodiment, the numbers ofsessions may be independent of the underlying virtual machineconfiguration that is hosting the various user sessions. As additionaluser sessions are instantiated on the virtual machine, additionalvirtual machines may be launched. In one embodiment, a set number ofremote desktop sessions can be configured to execute on a virtualmachine. As more remote desktop sessions are needed, another virtualmachine can be launched. An elastic pool of virtual machines may beprovided so that sessions can be dynamically added at any time withoutthe need for an end user or administrator to understand the underlyingdetails for the structures providing the services.

Since the user may be assigned a virtual machine (VM) endpoint from apool of available VM endpoints, the next time that a user logs in, theuser may be connected to any one of the VM endpoints in the pool. Inorder to create a custom desktop experience for the user, the user'spreferences and state data may be saved. In one embodiment, the user'spreference and state data may be saved to a set of data that may beassociated with the user so that any time that the user logs on and isassigned a desktop, the user preference and state data may be obtainedso that the user's previous desktop state can be resumed. So forexample, if the users is associated with a session (i.e. end point) on afirst virtual machine and later is assigned to a different session on adifferent virtual machine, the user's desktop state from the firstvirtual machine would generally not be available to the session on thesecond virtual machine. However, according to an aspect of thedisclosure, the user's state is saved independently of the session andthe particular VM endpoint. As described in the present disclosure, sucha set of user data may be referred to as a virtual profile. In variousembodiments the virtual profile may be implemented and referred to as avirtual hard drive or virtual hard disk (VHD). As such, when the user isconnected with a session on a different virtual machine, the previoususer's state can be migrated to the new session. This feature allows asingle master desktop that is designed to serve a particular Type tohave a custom feel for each particular user. The result is that a userof an otherwise generic session environment is perceived by the user ashaving a personal desktop look and feel.

As discussed above, during the course of a user session, a client mayopen and close remote access connections to the cloud service, andduring any given connection, the client may change settings andpreferences in the session. A mechanism is described herein forprovisioning remote desktops in a cloud based infrastructure whilemaintaining user personalization. In cloud based systems, a user may notalways reconnect to the same virtual desktop. In one embodiment, thevirtual profile assigned to a user may be mounted to the endpointassigned to the user. The virtual profile may include information suchas the user's personal data and personalization information (e.g.,settings, profiles, files, application data, etc.).

When the user disconnects or logs off from the remote desktop, thevirtual profile is demounted from the endpoint and saved for subsequentuser sessions. The virtual profile thus saves information regarding theuser's state when the user is disconnected and provides the informationas needed for launching the next user session.

Since a user may be assigned a VM endpoint from a pool of available VMendpoints, the next time that a user logs in, the user may be connectedto any one of the VM endpoints in the pool. In order to create a customdesktop experience for the user, the user's saved preference and statedata may be used to provide the customized desktop experience regardlessof the particular VM endpoint to which the user is connected.

While the terms virtual profile and VHD are used to describe a datastructure for saving a user's preference and state information, itshould be understood that the present disclosure is not intended to belimited to any particular file or data format. In one embodiment avirtual profile or a VHD may be a virtual hard disk file format that isconfigured as data that is typically found on a physical data diskdrive.

Initially, a virtual profile or a VHD may be populated with dataoperable to configure a user's desktop in accordance with the standarddesktop configuration as defined by, for example, a company ITadministrator. Thus a virtual profile or a VHD may include data definingthe “gold image” of the desktop (i.e., the standard desktopconfiguration for a user role). Nevertheless, as a user uses aparticular remote desktop and begins to customize the desktop by forexample, changing the wallpaper, adding music, saving local documents,etc., that information is stored to the virtual profile or a VHD and aneach time thereafter that a user is connected to a standard remotedesktop, it is populated with the data from the virtual profile or a VHDto provide the look and feel of a custom user experience.

Any combination of user types (i.e., desktop types) may be definedwithin the boundaries of a single cloud service boundary. For examplecloud service boundary 1410 may define a single service boundary asdefined and configured for a set of services provided to a particularcompany and accessible using a predetermined URL which, when entered viaa browser, may provide a web interface for logging on to the service andaccessing the desktops configured for service.

In an embodiment, when a user session is requested, a connection to aconnection broker may initially be requested. The connection broker maydetermine the stamp associated with the requested user session andselect a virtual machine that is hosting user sessions within theidentified stamp. For example, if the request indicates that a usersession is desired, the connection broker may search a database thatincludes IP address port number combinations or network identifiers tofind a suitable virtual machine being hosted on a cloud server. Theconnection broker can generate a redirection request that causes theuser session to be associated with the identified virtual machine.

Referring to the embodiment described in FIG. 16, an endpoint may benotified 1600 that a user has logged into the system. The systemsearches for a virtual profile 1601 and determines whether a virtualprofile already exists for the user 1602. If there is no virtual profilefor the user, then a virtual profile is created 1603. If a virtualprofile already exists for the user or if a virtual profile was created,then the user virtual profile is moved to the endpoint 1604. The userdesktop session may be launched 1605. When it is determined that theuser has logged out 1606, then the virtual profile is dismounted 1607from the endpoint and saved for subsequent use.

Managing User State Of Cloud Desktops

As discussed above, during the course of a user session, a client mayopen and close remote access connections to the cloud service, andduring any given connection, the client may change settings andpreferences in the session. A mechanism is described herein forprovisioning remote desktops in a cloud based infrastructure whilemaintaining user personalization. In cloud based systems, a user may notalways reconnect to the same virtual desktop. In one embodiment, thevirtual hard disk assigned to a user may be mounted to the endpointassigned to the user. The virtual hard disk may include information suchas the user's personal data and personalization information (e.g.,settings, profiles, files, etc.). When the user disconnects or logs offfrom the remote desktop, the virtual hard disk is demounted from theendpoint and saved for subsequent user sessions. The virtual hard diskthus saves information regarding the user's state when the user isdisconnected and provides the information as needed for launching thenext user session.

Since a user may be assigned a desktop from a pool of availabledesktops, the next time that a user logs in, the user may be connectedto any one of the desktops in the pool. In order to create a customdesktop experience for the user, the user's save preference and statedata may be used to provide the customized desktop experience regardlessof the particular desktop that the user is connected to.

In one embodiment, the user preference and state data may be saved to adata structure that may be associated with the user so that any timethat the user logs on and is assigned a desktop, the user preference andstate data may be obtained and the user's previous desktop state can beresumed. Thus for example, if the user is associated with a session(i.e., end point) on a first virtual machine and later is assigned to adifferent session on a different virtual machine, the user's desktopstate from the first virtual machine would generally not be available tothe session on the second virtual machine. However, according to anaspect of the invention, the user's state is saved independent of theparticular session and the particular virtual machine host. As describedin the present disclosure, such a set of user data may be referred to asa virtual hard drive or virtual hard disk (VHD). Thus, when the user isconnected with a session on a different virtual machine, the previoususer state can be migrated to the new session. This feature allows asingle master desktop that is designed to serve a particular type toimplement a custom feel for each particular user. The result is that auser of an otherwise generic session environment is perceived by a userto have a personal desktop look and feel.

While the term VHD is used to describe a data structure for saving auser's preference and state information, it should be understood thatthe present disclosure is not intended to be limited to any particularfile or data format. In one embodiment a VHD may be a virtual hard diskfile format that is configured to data that is typically found on aphysical data disk drive.

Initially, a VHD may be populated with data operable to configure auser's desktop in accordance with the standard desktop configuration asdefined by, for example, a company IT administrator. Thus a VHD mayinclude data defining the “gold image” of the desktop (i.e., thestandard desktop configuration for a user role).

Referring to the embodiment described in FIG. 17, an endpoint may benotified 1700 that a user has logged into the system. The systemsearches for a VHD 1701 and determines whether a VHD already exists forthe user 1702. If there is no VHD for the user, then a VHD is created1703. If a VHD already exists for the user or if a VHD was created, thenthe user VHD is moved to the endpoint 1704. The user desktop session maybe launched 1705. When it is determined that the use has logged out1706, then the VHD is dismounted 1707 from the endpoint and saved forsubsequent use.

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary operational procedure for managing avirtualized computing infrastructure including operations 1500, 1502,1504, 1506, and 1508. Referring to FIG. 15, operation 1500 begins theoperational procedure and operation 1502 illustrates instantiating oneor more remote desktop configurations that makes available, to aplurality of users via a remote network connection, remote desktopconfigurations. The remote desktop configurations may each comprise anoperating environment and software applications to be included in theoperating environment.

Operation 1504 illustrates receiving a request for a remote desktopsession from one of the plurality of users, the remote desktop sessionconforming to one of the one or more remote desktop configurations.

Operation 1506 illustrates determining is previously saved user stateinformation is available. In operation 1508, the requested remotedesktop session is instantiated when previously saved user stateinformation is not available. In operation 1510, previously saved userstate data is loaded when available. The previously saved user statedata may comprise the user's preference and personal data.

Operation 1512 illustrates updating the saved state information when theinstantiated remote desktop session is terminated.

FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary system for managing a virtualized computinginfrastructure as described above. Referring to FIG. 16, system 1600comprises a processor 1610 and memory 1620. Memory 1620 furthercomprises computer instructions for managing a virtualized computinginfrastructure. Block 1622 illustrates instantiating one or more remotedesktop configurations that makes available, to a plurality of users viaa remote network connection, remote desktop configurations eachcomprising an operating environment and software applications to beincluded in the operating environment. Block 1624 illustrates receivinga request for a remote desktop session from one of the plurality ofusers, the remote desktop session conforming to one of the one or moreremote desktop configurations. Block 1626 illustrates in response to therequest, instantiating the requested remote desktop session whenpreviously saved user state information is not available, and otherwiseloading previously saved user state data associated with the one of theplurality of users, the previously saved user state data comprising theuser's preference and personal data. Block 1628 illustrates updating thesaved state information when the instantiated remote desktop session isterminated.

Any of the above mentioned aspects can be implemented in methods,systems, computer readable media, or any type of manufacture. Forexample, a computer readable medium can store thereon computerexecutable instructions for managing a virtualized computinginfrastructure. Such media can comprise a first subset of instructionsfor instantiating one or more remote desktop configurations that makesavailable, to a plurality of users via a remote network connection,remote desktop configurations each comprising an operating environmentand software applications to be included in the operating environment; asecond subset of instructions for receiving a request for a remotedesktop session from one of the plurality of users, the remote desktopsession conforming to one of the one or more remote desktopconfigurations; a third set of instructions for in response to therequest, instantiating the requested remote desktop session whenpreviously saved user state information is not available, and otherwiseloading previously saved user state data associated with the one of theplurality of users, the previously saved user state data comprising theuser's preference and personal data; and a fourth set of instructionsfor updating the saved state information during the remote desktopsession. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatadditional sets of instructions can be used to capture the various otheraspects disclosed herein, and that the four presently disclosed subsetsof instructions can vary in detail per the present disclosure.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for managing a cloud computing system, themethod comprising: instantiating one or more remote desktopconfigurations that makes available, to a plurality of users via aremote network connection, remote desktop configurations comprising anoperating environment and software applications to be included in theoperating environment; receiving, by a computing device, a request for aremote desktop session from one of the plurality of users, the firstremote desktop session conforming to one of the one or more remotedesktop configurations; in response to the request, assigning, by thecomputing device, a virtual machine endpoint to the requested remotedesktop session from a pool of available virtual machine endpoints,wherein the request may be associated with any one of the availablevirtual machine endpoints in the pool; and loading previously saved userstate data associated with the one of the plurality of users andincluded in a profile associated with the one of the plurality of users,the previously saved user state data comprising the user's preferenceand personal data, wherein the previously saved user state is savedindependently of the requested remote desktop session and the assignedvirtual machine endpoint.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisinginstantiating the requested first remote desktop session when previouslysaved user state information is not available
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein said instantiating comprises assigning the one of the pluralityof users to an endpoint and mounting the virtual profile to theendpoint.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising demounting thevirtual profile from the endpoint upon ending the remote desktopsession.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the userstate data associated with the one of the plurality of users during theremote desktop session.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisingpersisting the saved state information for a subsequent remote desktopsession.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to asecond request for a second remote desktop session, assigning a secondvirtual machine endpoint to the requested second remote desktop sessionfrom the pool of available virtual machine endpoints, wherein the secondrequest may be associated with any one of the available virtual machineendpoints in the pool, and loading the saved state information that wasupdated during the first remote desktop session, wherein the first andsecond virtual machine endpoints are different.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising updating the saved state information when theinstantiated remote desktop session is terminated.
 9. A cloud computingsystem comprising: a computing device comprising at least one processor;a memory communicatively coupled to said processor when said system isoperational; said memory having stored therein computer instructionsthat upon execution by the at least one processor cause: instantiatingone or more remote desktop configurations that makes available, to aplurality of users via a remote network connection, remote desktopconfigurations comprising an operating environment and softwareapplications to be included in the operating environment; receiving afirst request for a first remote desktop session from one of a pluralityof users, the first remote desktop session conforming to one or moreremote desktop configurations; in response to the first request,assigning a first virtual machine endpoint to the requested first remotedesktop session from a pool of available virtual machine endpoints,wherein the first request may be associated with any one of theavailable virtual machine endpoints in the pool; and loading previouslysaved user state data associated with the one of the plurality of users,the previously saved user state data comprising the user's preferenceand personal data, wherein the previously saved user state is savedindependently of the requested first remote desktop session and theassigned first virtual machine endpoint.
 10. The system of claim 9,further comprising, in response to a second request for a second remotedesktop session, assigning a second virtual machine endpoint to therequested second remote desktop session from the pool of availablevirtual machine endpoints, wherein the second request may be associatedwith any one of the available virtual machine endpoints in the pool, andloading the saved state information that was updated during the firstremote desktop session, wherein the first and second virtual machineendpoints are different.
 11. The system of claim 9, further comprisingassigning the one of the plurality of users to an endpoint and mountingthe saved state information to the endpoint.
 12. The system of claim 11,further comprising demounting the saved state information from theendpoint upon ending the remote desktop session.
 13. The system of claim9, further comprising instantiating the requested first remote desktopsession when previously saved user state information is not available.14. The system of claim 9, further comprising persisting the saved stateinformation for a subsequent remote desktop session.
 15. The system ofclaim 9, further comprising updating the saved state information duringthe first remote desktop session.
 16. The system of claim 9, wherein thevirtual profile is implemented as virtual hard disk associated with theone of the plurality of users.
 17. A computer readable storage devicestoring thereon computer executable instructions for managing a cloudcomputing infrastructure, the computer readable storage devicecomprising: instructions for instantiating one or more remote desktopconfigurations that makes available, to a plurality of users via aremote network connection, remote desktop configurations each comprisingan operating environment and software applications to be included in theoperating environment; instructions for receiving a first request for afirst remote desktop session from one of the plurality of users, thefirst remote desktop session conforming to one of the one or more remotedesktop configurations; instructions for, in response to the firstrequest, assigning a first virtual machine endpoint to the requestedfirst remote desktop session from a pool of available virtual machineendpoints, wherein the first request may be associated with any one ofthe available virtual machine endpoints in the pool, and loadingpreviously saved user state data associated with the one of theplurality of users and included in a virtual profile associated with theone of the plurality of users, wherein the previously saved user stateis saved independently of the requested first remote desktop session andthe assigned first virtual machine endpoint; and instructions forupdating the saved state information during the first remote desktopsession.
 18. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, furthercomprising instructions for instantiating the requested first remotedesktop session when previously saved user state information is notavailable.
 19. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, whereinsaid instantiating comprises assigning the one of the plurality of usersto an endpoint and mounting the virtual profile to the endpoint.
 20. Thecomputer readable device of claim 19, further comprising instructionsfor demounting the virtual profile from the endpoint upon ending theremote desktop session.